Page 153 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
BOOKS OF INTEREST 151
COMPILED BY PETER MASTERS | BRISBANE
MILITARYBOOKSAUSTRALIA.COM
WAR
HOW CONFLICT SHAPED US By Margaret MacMillan Published by Profile Books; Dist. by Allen & Unwin
RRP $39.99 in hardcover ISBN 9781788162562
‘War is perhaps the most organised of all human activities and in turn it has stimulated further organisation of society. Even in peacetime, preparing for war – finding the necessary money and resources – demands that governments assume greater control over society.’ So writes Margaret
THE LIFE OF A SPY
AN EDUCATION IN TRUTH, LIES AND POWER
By Rod Barton
Published by Black Inc RRP $32.99 in paperback ISBN 9781760642778
Rod Barton has written
an engaging and very readable account of his career as an Australian intelligence officer. His career, which took an unlikely trajectory, began in 1971 when he applied for a junior scientist role in the Department of Defence. As
Macmillan in the introduction to her latest book that offers up insights into war across the span of human history and whether it really is an essential part of being human. MacMillan explores the deep links between society and war and the questions those links raise. We learn when war began and the ways in which war reflects changing societies. And how the growth of messianic leaders continues to fuel conflict. ‘An enemy without uniforms
or even bases,’ she writes, ‘whose members often recruit themselves on the internet, cannot be defeated by expensive jet fighters, tanks or aircraft carriers.’ And then there is cyberspace. We may be tempted to let all memories of war slip away but she urges us to resist the temptation, because war is still with us. And in that war, she concludes, we face the end of humanity itself. A sobering final coup de grace for readers.
I was reading this book, it struck me that it had all the elements of an adventure story, except that
it was one man’s actual, lived experience. His realisation that so-called toxic material was bee poo adds a surreal element to a story, well told, of how a career in the murky world of intelligence can unfold. After the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, the
CIA engaged him as its special adviser in the hunt for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. But he soon clashed with the agency over what he saw – and
what he didn’t find. He understood the political implications of the failure
to find such weapons which had been the whole basis for the invasion. It was this that prompted him to share the truth with the world. Highly recommended.
BETWEEN FIVE EYES
50 YEARS OF
INTELLIGENCE SHARING
By Anthony R Wells
Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $29.99 in paperback
ISBN: 9781922387806
Anthony Wells is the only living person to have worked for both British intelligence as a British citizen and US intelligence
as a US citizen, giving him a unique perspective, coupled with his early training including time spent with the most distinguished exponents of deception from WWII. This book
THE CHANGING
OF THE GUARD
The British army since 9/11
By Simon Akam
Published by Scribe Publications RRP $60.00 in hardback
ISBN 9781922310279
This book has garnered both praise and criticism, most notably the criticism has centred on the author’s lack of experience, being a journalist with limited military experience, but such criticism overlooks the depth of his research, which has taken years. In this book, he examines the relevance
constitutes 50 years working for the UK-US intelligence community, witnessing the inner workings at the highest levels. As you read this book, you realise the breadth of activities the author participated in and the insights he gained in high level conversations, such as
the reasons for the failure of Operation Market Garden (WWII) which he concludes offers an important lesson: if there is no organisational and cultural willingness to make changes and implement lessons learned, the same mistakes
can be made time and again in new and different operational settings. He concludes that what has occurred within the Five Eyes community is quite remarkable, held together
by its shared values, despite differences over the years. For anyone with even a passing interest in how the intelligence community operates, this book is a ‘must read’.
of the British armed forces today – their social, economic, political, and cultural role. Yet this is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics
of failure, as it is about the military and the how the British Army fought two campaigns,
in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost, with neither war achieving its objectives. Based on assiduous research, field reportage, and interviews with many soldiers and officers
who served, as well as the politicians who directed them, the allies who accompanied them, and the family members who loved and – on occasion
– lost them, it is a detailed portrait of one of Britain’s pivotal national institutions in a time
of great stress. And yet, Akam concludes, it may be a much
a broader problem of British institutions struggling with change in a new century rather than simply an army problem. ■